going rate for log cutter

[timberjack97]

i have a log cutter working for me has a sub contractor  he gets  7 dollars  a  ton to cut paper wood  and  100  dollars a load to cut logs he has his own chain saw too  is that to much to pay him?

[Silver_Eagle]

Is he cutting cat ground or line ground? Is he just dumping the tree's or cutting to length and limbing?

[OntarioAl]

timberjack97
I cannot comment on the rate you are paying because it directly relates to to the $$ per load of product you are receiving and for what ever reason you are asking a lot of questions but not answering some pertanent questions posed by very knowledgable people aimed at helping you.
Some of us tried mind reading as a career but had to give it up as we were not very good at it and darn near starved to death.
But if the log cutter knows how to maximize the log yield and not turn good saw logs into pulp I would say he is worth every penny you pay him.
His rates seem to indicate that he knows what his business is as it is easier and quicker to produce a log load than a load of pulpwood. I would hazard a guess that if he walked your timber (I know I would) before he gave you his quote he is figuring on a least 2 to 2.5 loads of logs to every pulpwood load.
Then again I might just be speculating and your log cutter is a "greenhorn" and somebody else with experience told him what to charge.
If that is the case his level of experience can be measured by how fast he bucks up your one skid of treelength every 40 minutes. If he is bearly finished before the next skid arrives he is green as grass on the other hand if he is waiting  long periods for loads he wll not stick around cutting just one load a day.
Hope this helps
Al

[tyb525]

timberjack97,

I think you need to sit down for a minute and analyze your business. How much do you make on a job, and how much do you spend on a job.

Income is how much you are paid when the job is all done, or per cord, load, etc.

Expenses are what you have to spend on fuel, wages, maintenance, etc.

How do the two compare? This should help you figure out how much you should spend on employees, subs, and machines. You should be making more than you are spending. It's basic business.

[Jamie_C]

I too am left scratching my head, if this is the same job that you were getting about $300/load for logs then my good man you are going in the hole so fast it isn't funny.

Most of us here will gladly answer any and all questions but it is becoming painfully obvious that you have no idea on how most things work and what things cost in this industry. I think you might have jumped in with both feet thinking it was a way to make a lot of money quickly.

You need to sit down and figure out what your fixed costs are (machine payments, insurance, etc), what your variable costs are (repairs, incidental costs) etc, etc, etc, etc

If you don't know exactly what your costs are per hour or per ton to run your business then you are doomed. You seem to be working backwards from what your hired hands want for pay down the line to what you will have in the end. You need to work the other way, you have to know your costs before you know what you can pay somebody. Anything else is just financial suicide.

[lumberjack48]

I don't know how you can pay $17.50 a cord to saw pulpwood,$175.00 a load. Hes happy setting around making this kind of money.

tj97 work alone one day, i'll bet you get more then 10 cords.

Before you put us all in the funny farm, please get somebody in there to help get you running.